Ecstasies

For centuries witches on trial admitted to taking part in gruesome "sabbaths" where they cast spells, worshipped a bestial devil, enacted obscenely blasphemous rites and even devoured corpses. Many scholars believe that such confessions, often enacted under torture were just a reflection of their persecutors' fantasies. Certainly as Carlo Ginzburg shows, witch hunters adapted the stereotypes earlier used to descredit and persecute lepers and Jews.